Update - Fast food junkie to ‘Fight Club’ fit

Ten kilos down and two weeks before Christmas; the last time we interviewed Nish, less was certainly more. His ten kilo weight loss (that's just shy of two stone to imperialists) had left him full of energy, headache and stress free. Post-Christmas we catch-up with Nish and his Personal Trainer, Paul Malekos, to see if he is still full of the joys of the forthcoming Spring:

Most of us wake up on the first day of the year on a New Years' Day guilt trip. So Nish, are you full of repentance or feeling nicely smug?!

Smug's a bit strong, but I'm proud of myself as I didn't let it go pear-shaped over Christmas! In fact I even managed to lose a bit more weight. Far from pushing me to the limit though, while everyone else was tucking into the turkey and trimmings, Paul reigned things in on the workouts - I just kept the exercise ticking over and concentrated on trying to avoid the foodie temptations.

January is a time for retrospection. Paul, how do you and Nish plan to seize the New Year?

Looking back over the last few months Nish has no room for regret. He's done fantastically and this should be inspiration enough to spur him on into 2014. Having eased off on the one-to-one workouts over Christmas we are now stepping up a gear.

If you want to become an athlete then you need to train like one. We've achieved a fantastic base fitness with Nish, so now we are focusing on compound exercises, like squats and bench presses, which work more than one muscle group, build muscle mass and burn fat quickly. We are resistance training the big muscles in a cardio format making sure we use a full range of motion and then stretching those muscles afterwards, while they are nice and warm.

By training this way with small 30 second rest periods between reps, Nish achieves resistance training at his optimum heart rate and by using compound exercises which use more muscle groups, they will have a far greater effect on metabolism than isolation exercises that focus on just one area.

It's great to hear the workouts are going well Nish. The shortest day is behind us, but you are back at work and fighting for time like all of us. Is the fast food habit still a thing of the past?

Yes. I feel so much healthier now that I am eating the right things and really have no inclination to go back to the dark side! I'm like a reformed smoker, a bit evangelical about what I put into my body and in danger of boring my friends and family silly!

Santa bought me a Nutri Bullet blender for Christmas (other brands are available!), which has been really time saving in helping me to juice fruit and veg and get the nutrients I need in the fewest calories possible.

It sounds like you've got Nish on quite a strict diet Paul?

Far from it. The deal that I struck with Nish was that he could eat as much as he likes; just make sure it's the right stuff. He doesn't have to stop eating 'bad' foods entirely, just eat them less often. I also encouraged him to snack still, but make sure those snacks aren't loading your body full of toxins. For example, swap a pack of crisps for a handful of nuts, that way you get more nutrients in fewer calories.

Here's a list of foods which Nish has a lot in his diet nowadays. You'll see lots of low fat protein sources which aid muscle repair and regeneration as well as 'good' fats which help protect the heart:

Protein Carbohydrates Fats

Protein

Carbohydrates

Fats

Lentils

Wholegrain Rice

Chia Seeds

Chickpeas

Rye Bread

Flax Seeds

Beans

Potatoes

Nuts

Quinoa

Sweet Potatoes

Seeds

Vegetables and Fruit

(ideally in a 2:1 ratio to help avoid high sugar intake)

Interesting stuff Paul and food for thought for the rest of us. It's great to see that Nish is, quite literally, full of beans! We look forward to our next update with Nish and Paul in the spring.